Not all are genuine, says Yanis

SOME children begging and selling on the streets are not really disadvantaged to fit into of street kids’ category because they have parents and a home to go to, an official says.
National Office of Child and Family Services director Simon Yanis, in response to questions about street kids, said most of the children roaming the city streets had parents and homes to go to.
Yanis told The National that there were about 20 children who were currently in the out-of-home care in three centres – Mendi, Mt Hagen and Port Moresby.
“We have five out-of-home cares in this country, one each in Mendi and Mt Hagen and three in Port Moresby,” he said.
“We only take in children who are extremely disadvantaged.
“The children you are looking at on the streets here in the city, they are not genuine (street) children.
“They have parents and a place to go.
“We know which children are disadvantaged and which are not because we have carried out a study that has confirmed this.”
Yanis said studies had revealed that one child out of every 1,000 children in PNG was genuinely disadvantaged.
He said the rest were really on the streets selling and making a living for someone else.
“They are mostly influenced by their parents or other parties to be involved in street sale for economic benefits,” Yanis said.
Meanwhile, Yanis said they were having consultations to transfer the National Capital District welfare office to be under NCD Commission.
He said once this exercise was done, NCD Commission would be responsible to address the street kids and sales on the streets.